Discworld author Terry Pratchett was knighted by Queen Elizabeth two years ago. At the time, he lamented that the title didn't come with a sword. So he decided to make his own, mining and smelting the ore himself, adding to it iron from meteorites. With professional guidance, Pratchett personally forged the sword:

With help from his friend Jake Keen — an expert on ancient metal-making techniques — the author dug up 81kg of ore and smelted it in the grounds of his house, using a makeshift kiln built from clay and hay and fuelled with damp sheep manure.

Pratchett, who has Alzheimer's disease, also said he had thrown in "several pieces of meteorites — thunderbolt iron, you see — highly magical, you’ve got to chuck that stuff in whether you believe in it or not".

After days of hammering the metal into bars, he took it to a blacksmith, whom he helped to shape it into a blade, which was finished with silverwork.

There is no picture because the mere sight of such sword would make men kill themselves in despair of their own extinguished masculinity and women climax uncontrollably for hours.There is one here at the very end of the page:http://www.paulkidby.com/news/apr2010.htmlSee it at your own risk, I warned you.